'Milan can score at any moment'

<<enter caption here>> at Camp Nou on February 19, 2012 in Barcelona, Spain.

<<enter caption here>> at Camp Nou on February 19, 2012 in Barcelona, Spain.

Published Apr 3, 2012

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Paris - Defending champions Barcelona and 2008 finalists Chelsea will look to set up a Champions League semi-final showdown this week when they face AC Milan and Benfica respectively in return legs of their quarter-final ties.

Barca go into their second leg at their Camp Nou fortress locked at 0-0 with AC Milan tonight bidding to become the first club to retain the trophy since it evolved from the European Cup into its present form for the 1992-93 season.

Chelsea enjoy a 1-0 lead over their Portuguese visitors, who tomorrow night will be seeking to improve on a disappointing display in the home leg.

The other two quarter-finals should see nine-times winners Real Madrid and four-times champions Bayern Munich progress as they host Apoel Nicosia and Olympique Marseille having won 3-0 and 2-0 respectively away from home last week.

Barca will be looking to dominate Milan in the same manner that they did at San Siro, where they were left frustrated both by the pitch and some outstanding defending by the Italian side.

The Catalan giants will be boosted by the return of Cesc Fabregas, who sat out the first leg and the league win over Athletic Bilbao last Saturday due to a lower-back injury.

“We’ve dealt with it and (on Saturday) he was better,” Barca coach Pep Guardiola said. “So even though we were forced to leave him out against Bilbao, he will be there on Tuesday.”

Barca attacker Pedro Rodriguez said he and his teammates needed to be especially vigilant against a Milan side that forced a 2-2 draw in injury time of their group-stage game at Camp Nou earlier this season.

“Milan have some great players and there is no doubt that they will make life difficult for us,” he said.

“We could dominate, but we will never be able to relax because they are capable of scoring at any moment. They are a tough team to beat, but, with the crowd behind us, we are hoping to put in a good performance and get through to the next round.”

Alexandre Pato, the author of a fine solo goal for Milan in the 2-2 draw, could be thrown into action after returning from the United States, where specialists examined the muscle problems that have kept him out since February 25.

“He is ready and available for selection by (coach Massimiliano) Allegri,” club doctor Jean-Pierre Meerssman said.

Allegri rested 36-year-old veteran defender Alessandro Nesta for the weekend’s 1-1 draw with Catania in Serie A, while 35-year-old Dutch great Clarence Seedorf also took it easy as they bid to repeat their outstanding performance of last week.

The Milan coach, though, has doubts over another Dutch veteran, Mark van Bommel, who was suspended for the first leg, but is now struggling to recover from a back problem.

Chelsea have been like a club reborn since Roberto Di Matteo became the interim manager following the sacking of Andre Villas-Boas, winning six of their eight games under the Italian’s stewardship, so they will start the Benfica tie with their confidence sky-high.

However, Di Matteo has fitness concerns over Didier Drogba and David Luiz.

“David has a problem with his ankle at the moment. We will have to assess how he is, and I don’t know about Wednesday,” he stated. “Didier is another one we will have to assess over the next 48 hours.”

Benfica must contend with the daunting statistic that only two clubs have lost a home game in the Champions League knockout stage and gone on to win on aggregate - Ajax Amsterdam against Panathinaikos in the 1995-96 semi-finals and Inter Milan against Bayern Munich in the last-16 last season.

Benfica coach Jorge Jesus, though, is adamant that his side - who progressed from the group stage at the expense of English champions Manchester United - can pull off a shock.

“We didn’t deserve to lose the first leg; they took their one and only chance,” he said. “However, we can go there and get a result because we’ve scored in all our away games so far, so we can easily go there and win.” - Sapa-AFP, Reuters

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